GreenTech
Data centers
confront energy costs
Soaring electricity prices coupled
with increasing consumption highlight need
for improved efficiency.
by Denise DiRamio
The energy-guzzling, ever-expanding data
center is in need of a makeover. In the
past, the most important priorities of the
data center have been speed, reliability and
uptime. Energy efficiency was not a top
priority. Today, data centers are facing
soaring energy prices, coupled with
increased energy consumption due to
increases in server processing power and a
greater demand for cooling. Power has become
a major expense; as a consequence, energy
efficiency is now a top concern, as well.
Industry experts say by 2010 the cost to
power and cool data center equipment is
likely to exceed the cost of the hardware
itself, and energy costs may soon represent
more than half of the total cost of running
a data center. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) states in its August
2007 report that the energy consumption of
servers and data centers has doubled in the
past five years and is expected to almost
double again in the next five years, which
translates into increased operating costs.
According to a survey conducted by
Cassatt Corp., nearly two-thirds of the 215
IT personnel polled consider their data
center energy efficiency average or worse.
In response to the problem, 63 percent are
either working on a data center
energy-efficiency project now or expect to
within the next year.
According to the EPA, enterprises can
save up to $4 billion annually in their data
centers by becoming more efficient. In an
effort to improve energy efficiency in the
data center industry, the EPA is
collaborating with The Green Grid and its
members, such as APC, AT&T, Emerson Network
Power and IBM, to develop an
ENERGY STAR data center infrastructure
rating. This rating will help data center
operators assess the energy performance of
their infrastructure and identify areas with
the greatest opportunity for improvement.
APC has developed a variety of Web-based
tools that allow data center professionals
to experiment with numerous "what if"
scenarios for green data center concept and
design development. The Flash-based tools
show the impact each decision–from physical
location and
infrastructure to cooling configurations and
AC and DC power-distribution
architectures–has on a data center’s
efficiency.
"Investing in a new green data center can
cost over one hundred million dollars," says
Steve Yellen, vice president of marketing
for Aperture, a provider of software for
managing the physical infrastructure of data
centers. "Organizations are striving to get
the most out of their existing data
centers."
Managing current data center assets and
cooling more effectively can lead to greater
efficiency. "The increase in rack densities,
combined with the cost of energy, has forced
the IT organization to address
infrastructure management," says Yellen.
Monitoring and managing equipment, space,
power, cooling and data center capacity is
essential, he adds. "Then you can
effectively plan and implement energy-saving
initiatives."
Energy-efficiency upgrades can yield
immediate and long-term rewards. "There’s
significant potential for improving energy
efficiency in these facilities," says
Jonathan Koomey, a scientist at Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratories. Strategies
that include power and cooling changes,
server and storage consolidation,
virtualization, energy-efficient hardware
and software, along with power, asset and
workload management initiatives, translate
into immediate energy and cost savings.
"Many large companies are starting to make
the institutional and technological changes
needed to capture that efficiency," Koomey
says, "and the payoff is advantageous to
both the environment and the bottom line."
Communications News’ GreenTech column
focuses on a variety of issues concerning
the green IT movement. You can contact
Associate Editor Denise DiRamio at
ddiramio@comnews.com .